Dyson was successful in getting consumers to think differently
about vaccuum cleaners and in the process got them to willingly pay a premium
price to clean their floors. Now, the company is looking to do the same with
fans and, in the process, get people to shell out between $300 and $450 to
keep cool.
The manufacturer doesn't even call its product a fan; it's an air multiplier. In its marketing, Dyson is going back to what worked with vacuums. Its ads criticize traditional fans with blades by contending they make too much noise. "Turn it off and you realize how unsettling it's been," Sir James Dyson says in a commercial.
The Dyson fans work differently from conventional fans, according to the company's website. The technology, which does not use blades, draws in air and amplifies it up to 18 times, depending on the model. The non-fan produces "an uninterrupted stream of smooth air" without the sound and it's said to be easier to clean because it lacks blades and a grill.
While this all sounds nice, an Advertising Age article points out, the real question is whether Dyson will have the same success with fans as it had with vacuum cleaners?
Bill McLoughlin, editor of Homeworld Business, has doubted Dyson in the past.
"I was skeptical in 2002," he told Ad Age. "His vacuum was $200 more than the competitors who were headed in an opposite price direction. At the time, it looked like he was running the Kentucky Derby backwards. But anyone who thought that back then was certainly proved wrong."
According to Homeworld Business, portable fan sales reached $527 million in 2009. By comparison, upright vacuum sales were nearly $2 billion.
Despite costing up to ten times what other portable fans cost, there is some evidence, at least in the U.K., that Dyson is achieving success.
Paul Martin, buyer for small electrical appliances at John Lewis, told The Telegraph, "Sales of fans are up 177 per cent year on year and the new Dyson model has led the way. Whilst it might be more expensive than a regular desktop fan, customers love the design, the way it works and see it as an investment purchase for the future."
Discussion Question: Will Dyson do for portable fans what it did for vacuum cleaners?